The International 2014

I never doubted wether DotA2 is 100% free to play or not, what I wasng't sure about was if, among the cosmetic items players were buying there were actual game updates equivalent to map graphic upgrades, hero updates, game balancing and stuff that normally come in regular patches. Going by Malthe's explanation the only thing of the sort are the new game modes which to be honest I find a bit cheap to put them among the stretch goals and not simply add them for free but but well.

This year the International makes the league of legends championship look like a mere convention tournament. I hope Riot is planning something to step up their game aswell.

See i wasn't sure about what you were asking about because you mentioned maplestory so i was wondering if you thought maybe something like compendium owners getting an advantage

And i don't see how it's cheap to add it to the stretch-goals tbh(Obviously i might be biased since i am so happy with my compendium even disregarding the stretch-goals that anything else is just a cherry ontop), you could argue that most of the strecth-goals are things that would be added sooner or later with regular patches.
For example, techies is a hero that people have been wanting to have ported for ages but valve haven't released him and now he has finally been unlocked through the compendium, sure he would've been added sooner or later regardless, but now the community knows that it's coming and they know that valve have to and will focus on delivering just that


Also [MENTION=9742]Chew[/MENTION]; I think CIS is a pretty clear favourite, not that VP couldn't make an upset. But CIS is scrimming with the better teams imho and have a lot of fresh blood + Black's experience to help them.